People might also wish to note that legal tender only counts when a debt is created (ie having already used the product/service) and that in order to comply with the very strict rules governing an actual legal tender it is necessary, for example, actually to offer the exact amount due because no change can be demanded.

Try getting on a SpanAir flight within Europe, it's the complete opposite. Cards are completely discouraged, and will take some 5 mins. per transaction, and on top of it, there is never any petty cash for the cash transactions. So, damned if you do (use cash), damned if you don't...

I was on a Continental flight sitting by an unaccompanied minor and the poor dear couldn't pay for food on the flight due to their credit card only policy. Her mother had given her cash to pay for food. The flight attendants ended up comping her the food and drinks.

In the UK you are frequently charged for using your credit card & often you debit card or only not charging on one obscure card that no one has like Ryanair, which would just add insult to injury. In addition if the funds were in a foreign currency I might be charged an addtional transaction charge by my bank or credit card company.

I don't believe that the definition of legal tender is quite so narrow in the UK.

Unlike Gulliver & most of the commentators here this really riles me, especially when the headphones only cost $3. I am with Mr Rosen on this one!

Why can't we just pay up-front for these things as we used to when they were 'free'. I travelled London to USA last week on Icelandair. I was expected to pay for headphones and meals either in Icelandic or Euros. I had neither currency on me. Fortunately I had bought headphones and a meal before boarding, otherwise I would have had an expensive credit card transaction.

As Ryanair's boss said famously in a CNBC interview, I don't care if you like me so long as you get your bum in my seat. If Continental offers a decent enough value proposition, passengers may agree to do handstands and perform gymnastics. It is all a question of price-points. If everyone is being asked to fork-out $3 on every flight, Continental is either going to make a lot of easy money ...or go bust....

I'm with Continental on this one and I wish more businesses would scrap cash to make queues quicker and easier. I paid for drinks on American using my card the other day and it took a few seconds. My only complaint - they use the magnetic stripe, and I've got one of those "Oyster" Barclays debit cards and it would be even quicker if you could just tap on the plane.

@sea sage
"...why not charge an extra 25% (or double the charges) for those morons who want to pay cash?"
I find it difficult to respond to thos whilst staying within the bounds of The Economist's comments policy and of polite discourse.
However, you seem to have got the point completely bass ackwards. In many places it is common, and completley justifiable, to charge extra for the use of credit cards, not for cash. You will find if you make a reservation with many Asian travel agents at an agreed price and then present your plastic that the quoted price is for cash. For a credit card the price is 5% higher. The credit card companies complain about this but, in my view, they can go and take a flying leap. It's both faie and reasonable.
The real point is, why should those of us who pay cash pay extra to subsidise those paying with credit cards? A credit card purchase costs the seller several percent in fee and gets him his money months later. Card users should pay more.
I would also think that to charge extra for a person who wishes to use the national currency would be in violation of all manner of laws. "Valid for all debts."
And I don't believe that a seller who advertises a good or service has a right to refuse to sell it to any customer who is not breaking any laws and who is proferrring the payment in legal tender.

one cannot discuss this question if not considering the laws of a certain country, as the matter of paying with money can only be correctely measured if we ascertain national laws.

here in Brazil money is the basic and fundamental method of payment. even if money - the liquidiy itself - is slowly loosing its way to credit and debt cards, it maintains a secure preponderance over all paying methods.

if no one is obliged to sign for credit cards, money is obligatory to all transactions, as for some it is the only way to take part in economic life.

Yes, absolutely. Defending cash as a legal tender is an incredibly important principle. The long term goal of military-security bureaucracy that relentlessly work to transform our western democracies into a totalitarian surveillance society is to ban all use of cash in the economy. Without cash, the government can easily monitor every move by every citizen. George Orwell’s 1984 was not supposed to be an instruction manual. The right to privacy has to be defended.

The slippery slope start with banning cash in minor places such as airline cabins, the next step will be for convenience stores to ban cash (justifying it with the robbery risk), then some large retailer will stop accepting cash, and finally “we the people” have been bullied into a cashless society.

Join the resistance movement. Insist on always paying with pay and use plastic money as little as possible.

For those who live outside the U.S. charging for headphones in a flight of 10 hours duration will certainly look odd if not ridiculous. I travel to the US regularly and find that airlines increasingly focus less on travel and more on vending food, drinks, headphones, baggage check-in, seats with more leg room etc. On top of this to have a no-cash policy suggests a disdainful attitude.

Cash is still one of the most convenient modes for small payments.

A suggestion for the highly cost conscious airline management: why not charge an extra 25% (or double the charges) for those morons who want to pay cash? This will probably alleviate the problems of the enormous burdens of handling cash. Continental may even find that this gives more profit than by simply vending stuff!

The problem of thieving airline staff will still remain (to think that an airline would consider this a problem at all!). But this is an issue between the staff and a "caring" management.

Funny on my 'cash' it says 'legal tender for ALL debts public and private'. Seems to me that means if you wish to charge for something in US Dollars and someone has ACTUAL US Dollars to pay with you have to accept it. Same thing with restaurants saying 'we do not accept $100.00 bills'... the hell you don't. You don't have that choice.

Vlad The Impatient got it right as far as I know.
In most countries a seller is obliged to take the national currency. If this is not the law, it certainly should be.
There is usally some protection in the law, eg coins can only be used up to a certain amount. This is to stop people, such as my friends at university, who try to pay a large sum with small coins.
But the basic point is, a seller should always accept the coin of the land.
And one may have many reasons for using cash. I do it because it is more convenient and to avoid long statements at the end of the month. I also do it to get rid of cash, eg leaving a foreign country. And, conceivably, one could do it to hide transactions. All confidential transactions are not crime or terrorism, despite the hysteria over security. A person may not want a statement to show to a spouse, partner, employer, etc that he was in a particular place. One may disaprove. But it's not illegal. I don't really like leaving a trail all over the world.
And what kind of bush-league airline charges for headphones? (Obviously, I live outside of N America.)

Cashless cabin is about reducing the rather rampant problem of flight attendants stealing the in-flight cash--they're not nearly as supervised as, say, cashiers in a retail establishment. Cashless cabins also eliminate the rather nontrivial problem of all that cash management--when your cash registers are flying all over the country, it is somewhat more complicated to collect and deposit the cash received than it would be in a typical retail establishment. Even in normal bricks and mortar stores, the cost of handling cash is actually quite substantial, often high enough that the several percentage points charged in credit card processing fees are perfectly competitive.

Regarding the "cashless cabin," many people from the less developed world do not carry credit cards. What happens if they want to buy something, or pay for something like a headphone? Do the airlines cater only for the folks from the rich world? Rifat Afeef from the Maldives